Smooth Sailing™ Factory-Direct Antifouling Boat Bottom Paints
$39.98 per quart. Get a free calculation
of your boat surface area and costs or call 612-226-5200 NOW to
discuss your needs with our experts.

For a drag coefficient smoother than ice, teflon boat Bottoms can’t be
beat.

Protect your precious boat bottom. Once fouling has established a hold on a boat
hull, it can rapidly spread or "colonize" the surface. Prevention is a
must, and will pay dividends with increased boat speed, lower maintenance
costs, fuel consumption, and improved exhilaration.

Smooth Sailing sells environmentally friendly, low drag Teflon, boat
bottom coatings. No biocides leach out of your bottom paint because we use
the "non-stick" technology of Teflon and the time tested magic of copper
to keep growths away. So you can take advantage of the very hard
wear-resistant qualities of a Teflon
and urethane bottom to keep growths away. This Teflon urethane has been
tested by the US Navy and been shown to last up to a decade. It is
available in white, charcoal gray, yellow, or navy blue.

Cleaning your bottom by keelhauling used to be the only way to reduce drag
on water bound vessels. Drag drains power, which means that more energy is
needed to compensate. Sleek hydrodynamic hull designs are of little value
if your hull surface is creating water turbulence. Whether you are
hydroplaning, trying to reach hull speed, or targeting your best fuel
economy settings, drag is your enemy.

A low drag coefficient means:

Less drag and a faster boat

Less damage to the bottom from growths, reducing maintenance

Less wear for better resale value

Less work to remove organisms from the bottom because they can slide
off

Less wipe and brush to remove slim build up

Less fuel consumption

Our ships were moving like tortoises while the British fleet was
bounding about like stags.
--Comments of a French admiral after the British fleet clad its war
ship bottoms in copper.

Power versus Drag
Power and drag are the two elements at play to determine boat speed on the
water. If you have unlimited power then drag is not such a problem. The
amount of drag your hulls are producing will dramatically affect how fast
you slow down and long it takes to accelerate back up to speed. If you are
racing a sailboat, your power is limited to the lift that the combination
of wind and sail shape can provide. In addition during starts, rounding
marks, tacking and jibbing increases drag and taxes power. This is why in
the 1700’s the British Navy retrofitted all of its war ships with copper
sheathing. The copper reduced buildup of
growths on ship hulls, decreasing drag and making a life and death
difference.

The old problems are also the current ones. Stuff grows in water. And much
of that stuff is looking for a home that will provide renewable food
sources. Lots of living things like to cling onto your boat bottom. And
most of them by design are not great for your hydrodynamics. These
organisms want to filter out nutrients from the flowing water your motion
creates. And we all know that filters create drag as water passes through
them, over them, and around them.

You can get prevent fouling on boat bottoms by providing a boat hull
surface that is inhospitable to growth. Aquatic organisms require adhesion
and nutrients to survive on your boat bottom. To resist adhesion, Smooth
Sailing Boat Bottom Paint uses Teflon which has one of the largest
molecules known and a drag coefficient more slippery than ice. Because
adhesion to Teflon is so difficult, it is considered a "non-stick"
surface. As a result, the faster water flows over your hull surface the
less likely that any organism will be able to hold onto that bottom.

Our bottom paints do not become soft with oxidation, nor do they leach
away biocides when stored out of the water. As a result you are never
required to re-coat after dry storage. Many other boat bottom paints can
become soft and chalky, and require re-coats after winter storage because
their biocides leach out of the film over the winter.For this reason, boats must be sanded and
re-coated with fresh antifouling before re-launching.

Smooth Sailing coatings use PTFE, the same chemical used in Teflon®. Most
people associate Teflon® with nonstick household products or with the
space program, but the properties that make it perfect for those
applications also make it an ideal ingredient in antifouling coatings.
PTFE creates the lowest coefficient of drag in any coating available. The
lower the friction, the less energy is required to move the boat through
the water. For powerboats, this means, increased speed and lower fuel
costs. For sailboats, a smooth hull will provide greater acceleration. In
addition, your top hull speeds can be maintained through tacks andjibes.
You will achieve top performance with less wind. PTFE melts at 400 degrees
and can be sanded easily allowing new coats to be applied at any time. In
addition, these coatings dry quickly so that spots from cradles and straps
can be touched in just before launching if need be.

Would you like to know how much bottom paint your boat will need?A
free cost analysis outlining a kit of materials tailored to your boat
bottom project is available along with a 24/7 help line.

Our free no obligation cost analysis will give you the answers. By
requesting a free analysis we can help you to determine what the right
amount of paint is for your project, as well as to know exactly what tools
you will need.

After submitting this simple, semi-anonymous form we will send you the
following information:

A complete list of materials and tools needed for your project

Exact price for the boat bottom paint and each item needed

Detailed, step-by-step instructions covering every aspect of coating
your boat, including preparing the surface, applying the coating(s), and
keeping it smooth and clean

Reasons to keep your bottom free from foulingSafetyHeavy fouling growth reduces responsiveness of the craft. The added
weight of the fouling can make the boat sit lower in the water than
intended. This can have obvious implications in heavy weather conditions.

Protection
Prolonged growth of certain types of fouling can damage the substrate of
the hull. For example, the natural glues which organisms use to attach to
the hull can damage wood and fiberglass. Fouling can also clog water
intakes and cause damage to the engines.

Speed and Efficiency
Fouling causes drag. As drag is increased, fuel consumption increases and
speed is reduced even to the point where a planing hull may not be able to
get on plane. For racing boats, this can be the difference between winning
and losing a race.

Smooth Sailing Antifouling coating is not meant to be a cosmetic
or decorative coating. Smooth Sailing coatings rely first on the
large polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) molecule which produces a drag
coefficient smoother than ice. Smooth Sailing Antifouling also uses
copper. Copper has been protecting boat bottoms from growth since the
1700s when Britain's Fast Ships like the Cutty Sark raced from the orient
to England with cargoes of fresh Tea. All antifouling paints change when
they are immersed. The true color will establish itself after the boat has
been launched. Along the waterline you will often note that the
antifouling coating looks dirty or faded and can often turn color from
copper to a dark gray and ultimately to a green tone. This is due to the
reaction of the paint with oxygen forming green copper oxide. Because
color change will occur over time, you should try to keep the Smooth
Sailing Antifouling coating as close to the true waterline as
possible.

How often should a boat bottom be coated?
Smooth Sailing coatings will retain their antifouling properties
as long as the coating is on the hull. Sanding between coats will add to
the longevity of the bottom jobs. By sanding the bottom in the spring you
will get more coats to adhere and forestall the day when too many coats
means that you must remove all the antifouling coatings from the surface
and start over. Smooth Sailing coatings must always be sanded even
if they have just been power washed.

Because Smooth Sailing Standard and Smooth Sailing Antifouling
bottom coatings wear away with use, there is no buildup of coatings that
will eventually have to be removed from the surface. The minimal buildup
reduces the maintenance and preparation needed when it is time to apply
more antifouling. In contrast, Smooth Sailing Urethane lasts up to
12 years and is so hard that it does not wear away. Because of its long
expected life, coating buildup is usually not an issue since five or six
coatings can be applied before any thickness build up is a concern.

A disadvantage to hard antifouling paint is that frequent applications
result in the buildup of residual paint film that occurs when the surface
is not properly sanded prior to application of new coats of antifouling
paint. When hard paints are hauled and stored for the winter season, the
paint film, as well as the biocide, oxidize, making it more difficult to
release biocide out of the film. For this reason, they must be sanded and
re-coated with fresh antifouling before re-launching.

Smooth Sailing coatings use PTFE, the same chemical used in
Teflon®. Most people associate Teflon® with nonstick household products or
with the space program, but the properties that make it perfect for those
applications also make it an ideal ingredient in antifouling coatings.
PTFE creates the lowest coefficient of drag in any coating available. The
lower the friction, the less energy is required to move the boat through
the water. For powerboats this means greater RPM's, increased speed, and
fuel savings. For sailboats, greater speeds are achieved with less wind.
Because PTFE melts at 400 degrees or more it will not flow into gel coat
pores when wet sanded, so new coats can be applied at any time.

Antifouling performance factors
The level of copper is not the only determining factor of how well an
antifouling paint will perform. The resin-binder system, the material that
holds the paint together, has its own antifouling agents and is equally
important. The amount of copper affects the life of an antifouling coating
but the sophistication of the resin-binder system to hold and release
copper is far more important to the effectiveness of the antifouling
effect. Smooth Sailing Antifouling will release biocide at a nearly
constant rate throughout its life. For this reason, the highly efficient
Smooth Sailing Antifouling is less dependent on large amounts of
copper to deliver the best possible performance.

Fluorourethane
Fluorourethane was originated by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratories
(NRL) in the early 1970s. It was a combination of a fluorocarbon (Teflon)
molecule with a urethane molecule. The material was unique in that it
provided a surface with approximately the same coefficient of friction as
the Teflon, was hydrophobic, UV resistant, and at the same time provided
an abrasion resistance four times that of Teflon. The fluorourethane was
originally tested on several ship hulls for the U.S. Navy. One boat tested
was a harbor tugboat in Chesapeake Bay. The coating lasted 11-1/2 years
compared to a conventional hull coating which lasted only 18-24 months. Of
major interest was the fact that no rust or corrosion occurred under the
coating. And biofouling, such as barnacles, could be removed with a
high-pressure water jet instead of chipping or shot blasting.

Boat bottom preparation
Your free cost analysis
will provide you with step-by-step instructions for coating your boat
bottom. In addition, the kit of materials suggested will include everything
you need to do a professional job. Buy just the items you need, but the
list provided will ensure that once your project is started you will
finish without delays.

Order your choice of Smooth
Sailing boat bottom paint today!
Our price is significantly lower than competing
paints because we manufacture Smooth Sailing coatings right in
our own facility. You are buying directly from the manufacturer and
cutting out the middlemen. You may like to read some
recent comments from customers.

We offer fast handling and a variety of shipping
options. You may like to try a quart of one of the following specialty
coatings. You can coat your mooring buoy, boat cradle, or dock braces.
It's a great way to see how easy Smooth Sailing goes on and what a great
finish it creates—while protecting those small parts and making the
removal of slime buildup much easier. We ship to anywhere in the
continental United States.

Call NOW612-226-5200 24/7. A
sales assistant is standing by to take your order. Please select from
these specialty coatings, $39.98 per quart: